Alabama

YOUR VIEW: Alabama abortion bill inserts state into private decision

I am a woman who is very uncomfortable and alarmed that the Legislature is considering a bill which would allow the government to insert itself into those decisions that have traditionally and constitutionally been confidential and reserved for women to make with their physicians and trusted advisers.

Through this bill, pregnancy termination would be deemed a one-size-fits-all medical procedure, and the woman's difficult decision, now made with the counsel and advice of a woman's own physician, would be abdicated to the state. This is not what we are about in this country.

The Legislature is considering House Bill 18, dealing with limiting pregnancy termination, a medical procedure, regardless of health conditions of the woman or the fetus, and regardless of situations of rape or incest.

This bill would allow state government to directly interfere with a doctor's relationship with his or her patient, and could force the doctor to fear legal repercussions when attempting to make the best, perhaps lifesaving, medical decision for a patient. The patient will not be allowed to make an informed decision based on sound science and in counsel with her own physician, religious advisers and trusted loved ones.

The state cannot know the medical situation for every pregnant woman to justify passing such sweeping and flawed legislation. Neither should any of our state's citizens be comfortable abdicating such power to the state, as it interferes with both patient privacy and the doctor-patient relationship.